Youngsters learn from the Chiefs

 

By Ben Wiltshire

It's not every day you get the chance to learn tips of the trade from Premiership Rugby players, but that's exactly what happened to a lucky group of youngsters from Kingsbridge Community College this week.

The Under-13s group descended on Sandy Park, home to the Exeter Chiefs, as part of their prize for being one of the regional winners in this season's QBE Rugby Pro competition.

Training alongside Chiefs players Haydn Thomas, Matt Jess, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Carrick-Smith, the group were not only given the chance to hone their skills in a series of different match-type drills, but they also got to see behind the scenes at the Westcountry's premier rugby club.

Kingsbridge Under-13s were one of a number of schools and club who entered the competition set up by QBE, the business insurance specialists. They are one of 12 grassroots rugby clubs across the country to be awarded a training session with four Premiership Rugby players, whilst in addition receiving £1,000 worth of training equipment.

The prizes were awarded to clubs who best demonstrated the benefits of receiving expert guidance from top Premiership Rugby coaches and players - and the judges were particularly impressed by Kingsbridge’s commitment to rugby with limited coaching facilities and equipment and an appreciation to learn and improve from professional rugby coaches and players also shone through in their entry.

Working alongside the youngsters was Chiefs scrum-half Haydn Thomas, who said: "I think that QBE Rugby Pro is a fantastic initiative and it is great to be able to give something back to the grassroots game. It has been fun working with Kingsbridge Community College and I hope that the access to professional players and coaches during the specialist training session will inspire them further."

Certainly the children appeared to gain plenty from their time with the Exeter players and coach Steve Gardner was delighted with the session carried out. He added: "The training session taken by the Exeter Chiefs players and coaches was a great success as our coaches and players got the opportunity to develop and learn a number of new skills. Hopefully this will greatly benefit the squad throughout the remainder of this, and future seasons. We are very grateful to QBE for this fantastic experience and the new training equipment."

QBE Rugby Pro is part of QBE’s Coaching Programme, which aims to improve the quality of rugby coaching in England at a grassroots level. For more information on the winning clubs and further details on QBE Rugby Pro visit: www.QBErugby.com.